Buchwald Attends Wedding at Kelly Family’s Invitation

MONTE CARLO, April 19 — Many people expressed surprise to see us at the Rainier-Kelly wedding after our feud with the Grimaldis, but the fact is that Jack Kelly sr., when he discovered our father had sent the first telegram to Henley protesting the fact that he could not row there, insisted we attend. And so we went as a friend of the bride.

It was obvious when we entered the cathedral that the bridegroom’s family had been given the best seats. We had been given one behind a post, and when we protested to the bridegroom’s family, they offered to sit us behind ex-King Farouk. We decided we could see more behind the post.

At the palace reception, after the wedding, the bridegroom’s relatives and the bride’s relatives kept separated and eyed each other suspiciously. Most of us from the Kelly side, as we ate foie gras, lobster, chicken and wedding cake, decided our Grace was too good for their Rainier, and she was a girl in a million. We decided that America had given Europe many things in the past, but nothing comparable to this beautiful princess.

In the palace courtyard, while champagne flowed, and an occasional tear dropped on the marble pavement, we toasted the royal couple. The Aga Khan, Somerset Maugham, André Maurois, Ava Gardner and countless counts and countesses, and members of the great families of France and Monaco mingled with the military and diplomatic representatives of more than 50 nations who had come to wish the Prince and Princess good luck, godspeed and bon voyage.

And so, as the sun smiled down on tiny Monaco, the Prince and Princess drove out of the palace, arm in arm. Eleven thousand hearts rejoiced and many Monegasques sighed with relief when the royal yacht, the Deo Juvante II, pulled up anchor in late afternoon and set sail into the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean taking the newlyweds on a well deserved honeymoon.

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To the Monegasques, who had watched their bache4lor Prince nervously for seven years as he raced innumerable sports cars, hunted wild game in Africa and took undersea movies of the deep, half the battle was won. Now the only thing they need to prevent Monaco from returning to the tax-ridden country of France is an heir.

What kind of heir do the Monegasques want? Naturally they would prefer a prince, but if things don’t work out that way they would settle for a princess. If it’s a boy, the Monegasques would like one who is a safe driver, a prince who doesn’t go over 40 miles an hour and who will constantly keep his eye on the road. The Monegasques don’t want their heir to the throne to be a sissy, but at the same time they don’t want him to risk his neck before he produces an heir of his own. Perhaps when he comes of age he could take up sculling, the sport of his grandfather and his Uncle Jack. He could practice in Monaco’s harbor, racing between the yachts of Lady Docker and Aristotle Onassis, and when he’s ready he could go to Henley and win the sculling championship for the principality for the first time in its history.

There are some Monegasques who hope the heir will take an interest in military matters, so perhaps Monaco can get back the French towns of Menton and Roquebrune, which were once part of the principality and which Monegasques believe are rightfully theirs. It wouldn’t take too much of an army to recover the towns, and there is no doubt that in the next 25 years Monaco is going to need more room to expand.

The Monegasques would like an heir who is punctual and doesn’t keep them waiting, and they would like their future Prince to make friends easily with photographers and reporters. But most of all they would like him to expand the press and television facilities when he gets married, so many more of us can attend his wedding.